Journal box



April 1950 A. o. BUCKIUS 2,502,555

JOURNAL B OX Filed Nov. 21, 1946 2 SheetsSheet 1 INVENTOR ALBERT a Bum/us ATTO RN April 4, 1950 A. o. BUCKIUS JOURNAL BOX 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 21, 1946 5 R M. Y 0 K E T C N N U R E B 0 V. T N T I A w Patented Apr. 4, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Albert 0. Buckius, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to National Malleable and Steel Castings Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application November 21, 1946', Serial No. 711,267

4 Claims.

The invention relates to journal boxes, and its primary object is to provide a construction which permits the secure attachment of a journal box lid to the box without the use of a hinge pin or any other auxiliary securing means, while permitting the use of conventional A. A. R. lids secured by the usual hinge pins.

In my prior Patent No. 1,171,020, granted February 8, 1916, I disclosed a journal box in which the lid was secured by trunnions formed on the lid. Thisconstruction required slots in the bosses at the sides of the hinge lug in order to admit the trunnions during assembly of the lid with the box, and these slots are objectionable if an A. A. B. type lid is used in place of the lid shown in that patent, as they greatly reduce the bearing area for the hinge pin. 'My present invention provides a hinge lug with which the conventional A. A. R. type of lid will operate to the fullest advantage and in the manner prescribed by A. A. R. journal box lid specifications.

I hav found that by forming an upwardly extending projection on the top of the box in a position located rearwardly of the hinge pin hole, the usual hinge pin formerly required with constructions such as illustrated in my prior Patent No. 1,711,040, granted April 30, 1929, can be dispensed with entirely and yet, by coaction of the hinge bosses and said upward projection with the lid, the latter is wellsafeguarded against accidental removal.

A disadvantage of journal boxes equipped with lids of the general type described in my prior Patent No. 1,711,040 aforesaid is that if the hinge pin is lost or missing the lid can be removed from the box by simply lifting itslover edge as is done normally to open the box for inspection and servicing. This in turn is likely to result in loss of the lid itself. The fact that the lid will hold itself in place on the box when in closed positionand even when in opened position if it is not lifted too highm-akes the situation even more troublesome since failure to insert the hinge pin may not be discovered until the car is out on the road and the lid comes ofi in the hands of some journal box inspector who may not replaceit properly, or at all. With my improved construction, however, accidental removal of the lid is efiectively prevented, even When no hinge pin is used, as Ipiefer.

Other objects and advantage of my invention will appear as the description proceeds.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a central vertical'cross-sectional view of a railway journal box embodying my invention in its preferred form. This View is taken as in' dicated at ll in Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the same box, taken somewhat to one side of the center, as indicated at 2--2 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a detail view of the upper end of the box taken as indicated at 3 in Fig.1.

Figs. 4 and 5 are detail sectional views similar to Fig. 1 but illustrating different positions of the lid, Fig. 4 showing it in full open position-and Fig. 5 showing a position of thelidduring assembly.

- My invention comprises in its general arrangement a railway journal box having a hinge lug with rounded bosses at each side of the lug and permitting the application of a standard A. A. R.

lid, a lid having socket bearings engaging said v bosses to provide pivotal support for the lid, a spring-pressed member on the lid for engagement with the hinge lug to hold the lid in open and closed positions and to hold the socket bearings of the lid in engagement with said bosses, and an upwardly extending projection on the box located rearwardly of the pin hole and spaced therefrom so that when the lid is lifted to open position, a portion thereof comes between the hinge lug and said projection and coacts with the socket hearings to limit further lifting movement of the lid and thereby hold the lid in assembly with the box.

Referring to the drawings, 6 represents the journal box having a hinge lug 1 having rounded bosses 3 at each side. The lid 9 has socket bearings in engaging the bosses 8 to provide pivotal support for the lid. On'the inside of the lid 9 is a bearing l l for a coil spring 12, the upper end of which bears against the lower arm 13 of the bell crank lever It. The lever M has integral trunnions I5 which seat in sockets E6 on the inside of the lid. The'upp'er arm of the lever has, beginning at itsupper end I l, a convex face [8 which merges into the elongated concave face I9, both of which in different operative positions of the lid 9 and lever 14' bear against the downward projection 2%! of the hinge lug [which lies flush with or within the mouth of the box. The lower portion 2! of the forward face of the hinge lug, if desired, may be provided with a recess or notch 22. The surface 2! also forms a part of a flat and uninterrupted seating bearing for the lid clear around the edges of the: mouth of the box.

When the lid is closed, as is shown in Fig. 1, the bell crank lever 14 bears near the lower end of its concave face I9 against the inner side of the projection 20 of the hinge lug, and the pressure exerted against the lower arm l3 of the lever by the spring 12 serves to hold the lid tightly against the mouth of the box. As the lid is opened from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that removal.

of Fig. 5, in which the spring l2 occupies a position of nearly maximum compression, the lever l4 slides about the projection 20 and reaches the forward face 2| of the hinge lug i, and the spring 12 is then free to expand and force the lever M to throw the lid 9 to the full opened position shown in Fig. 4 in which the upper edge 23 of the lid has come into contact with the shoulder 24 which is to the rear of the top side of the hinge lug I.

In closing the lid, pressure is applied at the outer or lower edge 26 thereof, the lever [4 being in the position shown in Fig. 4. Continued closing pressure on the outer edge of the lid brings the point i! of the lever around the point of the projection 20, when the spring I2 is free to expand and snap the lid shut.

In accordance with my invention an upwardly extending projection 25 is formed on the box to the rear of the lug 'i and spaced therefrom so that when the lid is lifted to open position the top edge 23 of the lid comes between lug l and projection 25 as shown in Fig. 4. Any further lifting effort applied to the lower end 26 of the lid is resisted by contact of the upper part of the lid with projection 25 at point a in coaction with the contact of socket bearings I0 and bosses B at point I). At the same time lever [A presses against the forward face of the hinge lug, thereby securely locking the lid against removal. Thus disassembly of the lid is prevented through coaction of the projection 25 and bosses 8 with the lid and lever [4 with the hinge lug when the lower end of the lid is lifted to its extreme limiting position.

Assembly of the lid with the box is accomplished by holding the spring-pressed lever l4 back and sliding the socket bearings ill of the lid over the bosses 8. The lever 14 may be held back to the proper extent for facilitating assembly by means of a suitable bar 21 (Fig. 5) or other tool. With such application bar in position as shown, the lid is placed in approximately the position indicated by the dot-dash lines 9 in Fig. 5 with its top edge v23 resting on the outer edge of the top surface of the projection 25 and with the surface l8 of spring lever 14 engaging the surface 2| of the hinge lug as at l8. The lid is then swung slowly downward, at the same time pulling it to the left as viewed in Fig. 5 until the position shown in full lines is reached, in which spring lever l4 supports the lid by engagement with the edge of projection 2B of the hinge lug, i. e. the upper edge of the opening in the box, and in which the top edge 23 of the lid is positioned between projection 25 and the hinge lug 1. The lid in this position is approximately horizontal or slightly above the horizontal. Upon applying a downward pressure to the lid, lever l4 pivots in a clockwise direction about its trunnions I5, freeing the application bar 2'! for This completes assembly of the lid with the box.

The front and top faces of the hinge lug and hole 28 are in accordance with A. A. R. design so that, if desired, a conventional A. A. R. type lid may be used, together with the usual hinge pin in place of the pinless lid of my invention.

The lug 25 is so located that it in no way interferes with the application or functioning of a conventional A. A. R. lid.

The terms and expressions which I have employed are used in a descriptive and not a limiting sense, and I have no intention of excluding such equivalents of the invention described, or of portions thereof, as fall within the purview of the claims.

I claim:

1. A railway journal box having a hinge lug and rounded bosses, a lid having socket bearings engaging said bosses to provide pivotal support for the lid, a spring-pressed member on the lid that engages said lug to hold said bearings in engagement with said bosses, and a projection on the box adjacent said bosses to contact at least a portion of said lid adjacent said socket bearings when the lid is in the open position to prevent accidental removal of the lid.

2. A railway journal box having a hinge lug, said lug having rounded bosses at each side thereof adapted to provide pivotal support for socket bearings of a journal box lid, and an upwardly extending projection on the boxlocated rearwardly of said bosses for engagement by the top edge of a journal box lid when the lid is in open position to prevent accidental removal of the lid.

3. A railway journal box having a hinge lug, rounded bosses at each side of said hinge lug, a lid having socket bearings engaging said bosses to provide pivotal support for the lid, a springpressed member on the lid for engagement with said lug to hold said bearings in engagement with said bosses, and an upwardly extending projection on the box located rearwardly of said bosses so that when the lid is lifted to open position the upper end thereof engages said projection, said last-mentioned engagement in coaction with the contact between said socket bearings and bosses serving to limit further lifting movement of the lid and thereby to hold the lid in assembly with the box.

4. In a railway journal box having a hinge lug with rounded bosses at each side thereof, and

having a lid with socket bearings engaging said bosses to provide pivotal support for the lid, and having further a spring-pressed member on the lid for engagement with said lug, an upwardly extending projection on the box located rearwardly of said bosses, said projection being so spaced in relation to the lug and the upper portion of the lid as to permit assembly of the lid with the box by holding the spring-pressed lever back and sliding said socket bearings over the bosses, while preventing disassembly of the lid through coaction of said projection and bosses with the lid when the lower end of the lid is lifted to its extreme limiting position.

ALBERT O. BUCKIUS.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Reemer Nov. 20, 1928 Number 

